A Leaf Love Letter
by fancap22
Summary: A quick little tale about the time a young Anko Mitarashi was saved from a romantic embarrassment.


A Leaf Love Letter

It was a peaceful day in the Hidden Leaf village when a young Kurenai Yuhi met up with an even younger Anko Mitarashi outside of a café.

"Ready for your training?" Kurenai asked. Anko nodded.

The then thirteen-year-old Anko had been writing in the cafe for most of the morning, and had been looking forward to practicing genjutsu with Kurenai. When Kurenai saw that Anko was struggling to organize a stack of papers she was carrying, Kurenai reached out to help her. Afraid that Kurenai might see her writing, Anko jumped back quickly.

"Stop!" Anko said without thinking, "I mean, don't worry, I got it."

"You don't seem like you got it, are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just a bunch of papers."

Anko's odd behavior made Kurenai suspicious. Kurenai placed her hands on her hips and looked at Anko who refused to make eye contact with her.

"Just a bunch of papers, huh?" Kurenai smiled mischievously.

"Yes," Anko said with an irritated sigh, "Now can we go?"

Kurenai stared at Anko for a few seconds. Suddenly, she grabbed several of Anko's papers and ran off.

"Hey, stop! Get back here!" Anko yelled after her.

Anko clutched the papers she had left in her arms and tried to catch up with Kurenai. She chased Kurenai up and down the village, around shops, near the front gate, and past the Academy. Just when Anko thought she had cornered her, Kurenai escaped again. At one point, Anko completely lost Kurenai, and she took a seat on a nearby bench to catch her breathe.

"Ugh, she's so annoying sometimes," Anko said. A few minutes later, Kurenai reappeared with a grin on her face. She had just skimmed through the papers and saw that Anko had written a love letter to an unnamed guy.

"Anko, do you have a crush on someone?" Kurenai said. Anko snatched the papers back from Kurenai.

"It's none of your business, didn't anyone ever teach you not to take people's things?"

"Well, who is it? Tell me!"

"Ugh, aren't you supposed to me training me?"

Kurenai ignored her question and began grilling Anko about her crush. Anko was frustrated, but she knew Kurenai would eventually guess who it was.

"Wait...don't tell me it's Kakashi Hatake!" Kurenai said. Anko's face turned completely red.

"What, are you kidding me, why would it be him?" Anko said, trying to hide her embarrassment.

Without saying his name, Anko had described someone who was very much like Kakashi in the letter. Before Anko could ask Kurenai to stop bothering her, they were both startled by a loud noise.

"Dynamic Exit!" Might Guy burst from a nearby store with such force that a strong gust of wind spun around the area.

"The papers!" the two kunoichi screamed.

Guy watched as Anko and Kurenai ran in the direction of the flying papers.

"Hmm, maybe I should stick to a 'Dynamic Entry' for now," Might Guy said to himself.

Kurenai and Anko ran as fast as they could to collect the papers. They pushed through crowds to desperately grab at every sheet they could reach. Their rush to grab all the papers was intense, but it was also a great workout. They regrouped once they had most of them back. Among the papers they had collected were notes about shinobi studies, and to-do lists, but the final draft of the love letter about Kakashi was still missing.

"Damn it!" Anko stopped her feet in frustration. Kurenai looked around and then widened her eyes.

"Anko..." Kurenai said, pointing further down the walking path.

Of course, there he was. Several papers had settled around the feet of Kakashi Hatake himself, whose back was facing them.

"K-Kurenai...why..." Anko went from being afraid to being angry in an instant, "Why didn't you just mind your business? If you did, none of this would have happened!"

"You're right, I'm sorry Anko, I was just being playful. I-"

"Now he's going to know I have a massive crush on him," Anko said, "Ugh, I hate this feeling."

As Anko and Kurenai spoke, Jiraiya had just exited a nearby shop. Through a window of the shop, Jiraiya had seen Anko and Kurenai running around. He decided to stop and listen to them talk about the letter as he was leaving the shop. Since there were several people walking around, Anko and Kurenai hadn't noticed Jiraiya who was intrigued by their conversation and saw an opportunity to get some ideas for his novel.

"Don't worry, Kakashi may not even know it's about him. I'll fix this," Kurenai said.

"How? You really think a genjutsu is going to stop him."

"Hey, don't talk about my genjutsu skills, you're supposed to be learning from me, remember?"

"Yeah, some trainer you are," Anko stuck her tongue out at Kurenai.

The two watched anxiously from afar as Kakashi picked up the papers and looked at them. They knew they had to act fast. Kurenai and Anko whispered to each other as they slowly walked down the path to approach Kakashi from behind.

"Let me lead," Kurenai said, "I'm good with this stuff."

"Oh yeah? If you're so good at this lovey dovey stuff then how come whenever you see Asuma lately you-"

Kurenai pinched Anko hard and Anko yelled. Hearing their voices, Kakashi turned around.

"Hello you two," Kakashi said, "How are you?"

Anko gave a large awkward grin, and was too nervous to answer.

"We're doing well, we were just looking for, um, some...things." Kurenai said.

"By "things" do you mean these papers?" Kakashi asked, "They seemed to come from nowhere."

Anko's heart was pounding and she gulped.

"Oh, yes, we, uh, need them," Kurenai said slowly.

"So, they belong to both of you?" Kakashi asked. At that point, Anko definitely wanted to run away.

"No, no, of course not," Kurenai said, "They are, um, uh..."

"Oh, there they are!" someone behind them said. They looked to see Jiraiya walking toward them with a smile on his face.

"Master Jiraiya?" Kakashi said, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just in the area working on my writing, and then this crazy gust of wind just swept everything away from me. Good thing these young ladies here were nice enough to try and grab all of my papers for me," Jiraiya said.

Anko's heart calmed and she almost sighed in relief.

"I understand, why didn't you just say that, Kurenai?" Kakashi said, "I just read this letter, it's a really good piece of writing, Master Jiraiya."

"If you like that, you're going to love my next book, kid," Jiraiya laughed. Kakashi gave the papers he had picked up to Jiraiya, and told them all that he had to leave to prepare for a mission. Once Kakashi left, Anko and Kurenai thanked Jiraiya for intervening.

"It's no problem at all, ladies," he said, "Now it's time to work on my book, I can't keep my new fan Kakashi waiting."

As Jiraiya walked away, Anko and Kurenai exhaled.

"That would've been so embarrassing, I'm glad Master Jiraiya showed up when he did," Anko said.

"Yeah," Kurenai said, "But you have to admit, it was kind of fun, running around like that."

"Oh shut up, you-" Anko paused and her eyes widened, "Wait...the letter! Master Jiraiya took some of my papers and the letter!"

When they figured out Jiraiya's little trick, they sprinted after him.

"Master Jiraiya come back here! You can't put that in your book!" Kurenai yelled.

Jiraiya began to run when he heard their footsteps behind them. Thanks to those two kunoichi, he had just collected all the inspiration he needed to work on his next book.

"Well, you know what they say, girls," Jiraiya said, "A writer's gotta pick up inspiration wherever he can! All's fair in love and war!"


End file.
